Western
Mail & South Wales Evening Post - 22 March 2006
New
Printing and Graphics ‘Powerhouse’
formed in South Wales
Two of the area’s best known
printing and graphics companies have joined forces to form a new,
comprehensive production facility
in South Wales.
Wales’s oldest family owned printing company, DWJ Colourprint,
has been purchased by IMEX Swansea Limited. DWJ’s current
Managing Director and great-grandson of the founder, Martyn Jones,
will join the board of IMEX and has been appointed sales director
for the Group.
Two of the area’s best known printing and graphics companies
have joined forces to form a new, comprehensive production facility
in South Wales.
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The IMEX Board of Directors (from left): David Haines (Commercial
Director), Simon Toft (Managing Director), Martyn Jones (Sales Director)
and John Latham (Creative Director). |
Wales’s oldest family owned printing company, DWJ Colourprint,
has been purchased by IMEX Swansea Limited. DWJ’s current Managing
Director and great-grandson of the founder, Martyn Jones, will join the
board of IMEX and has been appointed sales director for the Group.
Martyn
Jones commented: “ A merger with IMEX just feels right.
We complement each other’s services and I like the way the IMEX
directors have grown the business. With the recent retirement of our
Chairman and one of our senior directors, we felt it was a good time
to look for a commercial partner in Wales to help grow the business”.
The
move brings together over 160 years of history and experience. DW Jones
was founded in 1897 and has a well-established reputation for high
quality commercial printing. DWJ operates from sites in Port Talbot and
Baglan, serving a mainly South Wales customer base.
IMEX Group was formed
in 1953 and produces a wide range of print and graphic communication products.
These include exhibition stands, large
format digital printing, Point of Sale products and promotional corporate
gifts; in addition to a core business of quality colour printing. Operating
from a newly developed production factory in Swansea, IMEX has a mainly
national customer base, spread throughout the UK.
Simon Toft, Managing Director
of IMEX Swansea Limited commented: “It
is intended for both companies to share resources and run in tandem from
their existing sites until the summer. At that point they will be brought
together under one roof at the IMEX House facility on Swansea’s
Enterprise Park. The new structure will benefit from more efficient economies
of scale and form a new printing and graphics ‘powerhouse’ in
South Wales.
In preparation for this, we intend to complete an investment
programme totalling over £1 million in new equipment and expanding
operations at the Swansea site, including a brand new, top specification,
5 colour
B2 printing press. The investment combines cutting-edge technology with
the best equipment on the market. It is an investment for the future
that we consider essential, as only the most efficient firms that are
able to produce the highest quality work will be competitive and thrive
in the current marketplace”.
Simon continued, “We have enjoyed a good relationship with Martyn
(Jones) and DWJ for several years, as our client lists do not overlap.
It is a testament to this relationship of trust and obvious synergy between
the two companies that has enabled this deal to happen. I believe that
the merger of resources and new investment will bring enormous benefits
to our customers in terms of the range and scale of products and services
that we will be able to provide under one roof. This will enable us to ‘step
up’ operations significantly, achieving 5 years projected growth
overnight. The new structure will provide the resources necessary for
ongoing investment and growth for many years to come, providing a secure
future for the company and staff”.
LEGAL ADVISERS TO IMEX WERE MORGAN LA ROCHE SWANSEA.
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